This will be a site to record my thoughts and musings as they occur. A 'vanity' blog or website. Postings will be sporadic as the nature of this site is not a conversation with others, but a monolog to help me in troubled times.
To Those who find good ideas, they are free for theft so long as attribution is given. They are to be *built upon* not used to demean and tear down. Ideas I present I do not declare to be *good* or *perfect* merely *better* or *different*.

17 July 2006

The last week has seen an escalation in violence ratcheted up to intensities not seen in quite some time. Things appear to be going from bad to worse and the forces involved appear to be unevenly matched... and in a conflict like this, only *one* side can be victorious.

Afghanistan? No, the Taliban are only capable of some pitiful offensive and al Qaeda has had to move on to an easier target, namely India.

Iraq? Well, with the total handover of the first non-Kurdish province to the Iraqi Government and the concentration of forces in Baghdad, there appears to be some final boarding of the ship by the Sunnis to get out from the dock and maneuvering. The waters are troubled and the concept of 'hang together or hang separately' has *finally* sunk in. So, while still a bit of a mess, Iraq is actually looking pretty good.

This Hezbollah/Hamas/Syria/Iran against Israel war? Yes, that is bad, but the levels of violence there are pretty much on the expected side. Luckily, Israel has engineered everything so that they are positively, absolutely in the clear and will most likely intend to clear the decks. Don't expect any sort of a 'cease fire' in which Hezbollah or Hamas or Fatah or al Aqsa are still around.

No, the real increase in tension is along the southern border of the US:

FOX News, amongst others, 13 JUL 2006, HARLINGEN, Texas - South Texas sheriff's deputies were investigating Thursday whether Mexican gunmen who fired on deputies and Border Patrol agents from across the Rio Grande had crossed into the U.S.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said 200 to 300 shots were fired from automatic weapons Wednesday night, but no one was injured on the U.S. side and police did not fire back.

"This type of incident is a very good example of why I will not allow my deputies to patrol the river banks or the levees anywhere close to the river," he said. "We do have drug trafficking gangs, human trafficking gangs, that will not hesitate to fire at us."

...

"There is no doubt about one thing, that we were shot at from the Mexican side," Trevino said, "a barrage that lasted over five minutes, maybe even seven."He said the deputies did not shoot back because they could not see the assailants through the trees on the other side.

On Thursday, a police commando team finished securing the area and deputies were to begin searching for bullet casings that would prove some shots were fired from the U.S. side.

Trevino said such proof could lead to charges of attempted capital murder, though he said the chances of finding and prosecuting the gunmen were "next to impossible."

Now, what do you call it when folks on one side of a Sovereign State's border fire on the other side?

Yes, a Casus Belli! A 'Cause for War' under the 'Just War' concept between Nation States.

In the Rio Grande Valley sector alone, there have so far been 76 reports of violence against Border Patrol agents since the start of the fiscal year Oct. 1, including shootings, physical assaults, vehicle assaults, threats, and rock throwings. There were 35 such reports for the previous fiscal year.

Border-wide, there were 566 assaults against agents for fiscal year 2005, compared to 548 in 2004 and 375 in 2003.

Oh, my, more than ONE incident?

Journal News, 14 JUL 2006, WARREN COUNTY - Shots were fired at a Hamilton Twp. construction site in Warren County Friday and the owner of a construction company beaten in retaliation for the firing of an undocumented worker, according to Hamilton Twp. police.

Police responded to a 'shots fired' call around 1 p.m., in which the male caller told them 'Mexicans were shooting at him.'

Two men were injured, according to police, after the man who earlier had been fired from a construction company allegedly returned with about eight other men armed with three handguns and several baseball bats.

Hamilton Twp. Police Lt. Jeff Braley said police are looking for a 'vehicle of interest' a white Chevrolet SUV with Ohio license 'CDGOMEZ.'

Braley said he believes the suspects have been residing in the city of Hamilton, although investigators say they have not been able to fully identify the suspects.

According to police, the suspects arrived and rammed the construction foreman's truck with their vehicle, jumped out and damaged the truck with baseball bats, then sought out the foreman and rushed him. At that time they displayed the handguns and fired 10 to 12 shots in the direction of the foreman and another employee, James Parsons Jr., who was coming to the foreman's aid.

Parsons was struck multiple times with a baseball bat, police said. The suspects re-entered their white SUV and fled the scene, police said.

Parsons was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries. The foreman was treated at the scene for minor injuries.

A construction company supervisor said the incident began when a worker at the 21 Oaks subdivision construction site off U.S. 22/Ohio 3 was asked to produce paperwork to prove he was a legal immigrant. When he failed to produce the paperwork, he was fired.

Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones, who has mounted an aggressive campaign to rid the county of illegal immigrants, said he had not received any official information about the incident in Warren County.

Based on media reports, Jones said it appeared the employer was doing what the law required in terms of hiring documented workers.

"However, it doesn't really matter whether the suspects are legal immigrants or not it's against the law to attack another person. That's a crime that should not be taken lightly," Jones said. "Legal or not, shame on them for that."

Now, I haven't been able to track this little bit down... on the Bloviator Central someone put forth that the 6,000 National Guard to the border program was going to cost $1.6Billion. My estimated cost for a fully armed, sensor equipped, deep piling and thoroughly lethal WALL with remote control systems and such like? $5 Billion.

But its ONLY taxpayer money!

Lots more where *that* came from, right?

Now that the machine gun fire has started, along with the intimidation of our local Police, can we *now* start to look at building a WALL?

Otherwise things might start to look like they are in Lebanon along the southern border.

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Trying to save what thoughts I have in case my time for having them comes to an end. I keep many ways of looking at the world and from many perspectives, but they are each a part of a larger whole and reflect my thoughts and feelings.
Diabetic, cataleptic, naracoleptic, hyperlipidemia, cerebral atrophy, allergies and *still* glad to be alive. Founding and sole member of The Jacksonian Party. mail: ajacksonian at gmail dot com

What D&D Character Am I?

Alignment:Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.